Pushkin museum of Fine Arts

It is one of Russia's largest museums, boasts a fine collection modern Western-European, ancient Oriental and classical Greek and Roman art. The museum was established in 1912 at the site of the former Carriage Courtyard by a Professor of the Moscow University of Fine Arts Ivan Tsvetaev (actually the father of a famous Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva), and on 31 May 1912 there was a ceremonial opening of the museum. From the end of the 1890s Tsvetayev travelled frequently around Europe, Greece and Egypt to make exact copies of statues of Roman governors, fragments of Greek temples, and portals of Roman and Gothic cathedrals. So the early collection was comprised mainly of plaster copies, but it soon became clear that it was destined to play an exceptional role in the Russian art development. However, nowadays the museum boasts paintings by Boticelli, Rivera, Murillo, Rembrandt, Rubens and Van Dyke. The real pride of the museum is the collection of French Impressionists, one of the best in the world. It includes works by Cezanne, Degas, Monet, Matisse, Picasso and Van Gogh.